Distance Totals

Monday, December 15, 2014

In 2012 and 2013 I signed up for CIM and ended up not being
able to start the race because of two different injuries. As a result of
these
two consecutives DNS, CIM became a psychological roadblock for me, and I
told
myself after the second injury that I would never sign up for that race EVER AGAIN! Then this year I decided to run a marathon before the end of the
year to
try and salvage my racing season. However, no race other than CIM seemed
to be working for my schedule. I am not overly superstitious, but it
took some time before I
finally hit the registration button, knowing my heavy past with that
race. The
training cycle became about “slaying the CIM dragon”, as Multi22, one of
the
sub-3 forumites pointed out, and to stay healthy enough to step the
start
line.

My overall
training went fine. I ran a 1:26:47 half marathon 5 weeks before the race,
which McMillan calculated as an equivalent of 3:02:38, but my workouts put me
around 6:48-6:52 pace at marathon pace heart rate, which gave me hope that I
had the fitness to go under 3hours. Only issue, I started to feel some left thigh ache the last two weeks before the race. This ache slowly faded in the few days before the race so I wasn't overly concerned about it. I flew to Sacramento on Friday, and hit the
expo Friday afternoon. I got to meet Kim Conley, saw the BQ bell and the CIM wall where all the runners names were written.

With Kim Conley

The next morning I drove the course and realized then the
rolling nature of the course, as there was virtually no flat portion between
the start and mile 16-18. This worried me a bit knowing that I did not do my MP runs on hills, just some tempo intervals and hill repeats.

I slept very poorly the night before the race and woke up at
3:30 without the alarm. I drank a bottle of Carboforce, ate two muffins with
honey, showered and got ready to board the bus. I saw Dave in the line and
we rode the bus together with his buddy from Seattle. Once arrived, I hit the
portajohns right away to take care of business, after which I saw John Hill, who ended
up running a blazing 2:38 that day. He complained to me that he forgot his Garmin and was forced to run with a clunky set up with his phone. Had he told me so before hand I could have loaned him one, as I brought three with me being paranoid with technology failure...I then hung
around the start area; it was surprisingly empty until maybe
10-15min before the race, at which time people started to congregate.

At the start, keeping warm about 45 minutes before start time

I kept my throwaway clothes until 10 minutes before the start and took
care of business one last time in my empty Gatorade bottle, unbeknownst to people
around me, thanks to my warm-up pants. I threw away pants, fleece and hat, lined up several rows from the front and at 7am sharp we
were off.

Right away it felt difficult to reach sub-3 pace. I found
myself surrounded by the 3:05 pace group. This was oppressing as I did not have much running space, and I thought that they had
no business running that pace, as I clocked the first mile at 6:55. It was only
after the second mile that I was able to detach myself from the group and get
some breathing room. At that time I started to realize that the course was
relentless. The hills were not bad or steep, but there were very little to no flat segments, once I was done with a short uphill there was a downhill that I needed to be
careful not to hammer. This isn’t the type of course I am comfortable with, as
I like to get into a rhythm, dial in marathon pace and forget about it. I focused on running the tangents, which sometimes meant that I was all by myself on one side of the road, while the pack of runners around me just followed the curves and the runners in front of them.

In the early Miles, in front of the 3:05 pace group

The first 5-6 miles were a net downhill and I was a few
seconds over sub3 pace for these miles. However once we hit more even rolling miles with approximately equal up and downhills, my pace slowed down a bit
and I started digging myself into a hole. At that time I was thinking that I
should be going faster but the effort felt maximum for a marathon and I was afraid of blowing up in the second half. I had a small 10 oz bottle onto which I had diluted 5 gels and I used
it to take “gels” at Mile 4, and Mile 8. I looked at my split crossing the
half, and my Garmin showed 1:31:38. I then realized that it would be really
difficult to get under 3 hours considering the deficit I had built. I took
another “gel” at the half.Around mile 14, I seriously considered dropping out. I told myself
that there was no point in continuing, as I was going to beat up my legs for no
reason. I had no interest in another BQ, nor in anything else than a sub-3 hour
time, and it made little sense to finish. Then I thought of my kids, and that
it would set a terrible example for them, as I always tell them to finish what
they started. I also thought that I finally got a chance to start that race after
two consecutive DNS, and that I owed it to myself to finish, just to put a
closure on my bad history with CIM and finally “slay the CIM dragon”.

Once I made peace with myself and decided to finish, I felt better
for another two-three miles. I clicked miles at a regular pace, focused on my
effort than on the pace itself and started to catch up with some runners.
Around mile 18 the pace began slightly more difficult to sustain. I kept
plugging but it felt harder, even if I was still passing other runners. I took
my last two “gels” at Mile 17 and 20 and threw away my empty gel bottle, just to
feel more comfortable.

In the last miles, grinding towards the finish

At mile 21 we reached a bridge which is considered the last “hill” of the
course. It wasn’t much of a hill but I passed several runners who were walking
or jogging. Once we entered the city, the course was
completely flat – finally – but at this point the legs became fatigued, with
some muscle twinges on the left quad - the muscle area that had bothered me the last few days before the race, and on the right foot. My breathing became more labored, and the heart rate went slightly up, which was a clear indication that I was working on fat and that my glycogen was
getting low. The last miles went by relatively quickly. I passed lots and
lots of runners there and did not get passed. Around mile 23 I felt I still had a bit left in
the tank but did not want to push harder because of the muscles twinges in my
left leg and also because I felt I did not have much to gain at this point as I wouldn’t PR anyway. I still let it all go after mile 26 to close fast and blew past several other runners in that stretch. I crossed the finish in 3:02:26, with a 1min10 seconds negative split, glad to be finally done with that race.

Crossing the finish

Once I crossed the finish and got my sweat bag back, I looked around briefly to see if there was anyone that I knew, but
I really had no desire to talk with anyone. I sat
down on the steps of the Capitol and broke down in tears. I felt that I had wasted
5 months of training for nothing in return, and no improvement compared to last
year. I was left considering why once again I wasn’t able to reach my long
time goal. Maybe I wasn't in sub-3 shape - according to the McMillan calculator I ran at my fitness level. However my runs at MP heart rate indicated otherwise. Did I go out too conservatively in the first half? I don’t think so
based on my HR values but I will never know what would have happened had I
forced the pace to 6:50s. At any rate I wasn’t prepared for the rollers. I did some speedwork
on hilly terrain but most of my MP runs were on a flat loop for logistical
reasons. So while I might have been in sub-3 shape on a flat course, the rollers
took more out of me than I thought because I wasn’t prepared for them. In
addition, I did not do as much weight training as I did before OC in 2013, and
I was also heavier for this race than I was before, which all combined to make
it a more difficult race. I should be happy with running my second fastest marathon, with a decent negative split, but this isn't what I was looking for, and I will finish this report with this quote from a friend, who summarized well my
race:

“looking at your splits - it looks amazing and well
executed. Being objective you must acknowledge that running 26 miles at
sub-7 pace is insane. It really is you know. But I also understand the feeling that it's not good
enough…”